Are You Sure Our Empire's Knight Order Captain is a Yandere? - Chapter 2

Upon entering the secret chamber beneath the bed,
Shen Gongye muttered under her breath, “It’s so dark.”
She fumbled for the flint in her pocket, her other hand already gripping the longsword at her waist. A sharp strike of steel on stone—
“Shhwoosh!”
A faint spark flared. Shen Gongye breathed gently, coaxing the tiny flame until it floated, skittering towards the wall. At first, she only heard a sizzling sound, like oil poured into a pan.
Slowly, one spark became two, and two joined to form a line. In less than a minute, a small ‘fire dragon’ burned all the way to the end of the secret room.
The architect of this chamber was full of ingenious ideas. The size of the flame was perfectly controlled to illuminate the whole room without making the occupants feel stuffy, which also neatly mitigated the risk of a fire breaking out.
Shen Gongye’s gaze drifted towards the rear half of the room. Bathed in the firelight, she could clearly see a youth bound in the corner cell.
Shen Gongye walked over slowly. The youth had a shock of thick black hair, with a striking red streak running through his fringe. His eyes were gently narrowed, as if he were merely resting. His features weren’t particularly sharp, still retaining a hint of youthfulness.
His long, floor-length black robe was pushed open slightly, revealing a pristine white undershirt that was spotlessly clean, looking unusually neat. He certainly didn’t look like a criminal captured for torture or interrogation.
Yet, if he wasn’t a criminal, why was he confined to this sunless dungeon?
“How did you sleep yesterday?” Shen Gongye asked softly, looking at the young man before her.
“The same as before. So-so,” the youth opened his eyes and looked up at the girl outside the cell, his only visitor.
“Did you miss me, then?” Shen Gongye’s voice was a saccharine giggle.
“……….”
After a moment of silence, Shen Gongye swiftly drew the longsword from her waist. The iron chains shrieked as they snapped and crashed to the floor.
The cell door was pushed open with unnatural force, slamming against the wall with a bang. The youth’s eyes widened, wanting to confirm the situation, only to see a black-haired girl holding the longsword stop at the doorway. The firelight leaked in behind her, as if sensing her delight.
The corner of the girl’s mouth curled up slightly, but there was not a hint of a smile in her eyes, which reflected the firelight.
The youth couldn’t help but shiver. In this perpetually cold underground cell, the temperature, which had been raised by the ‘fire dragon’, dropped a few degrees again because of the girl’s smile.
“Were you missing me very much, huh?” Shen Gongye casually waved the longsword in her hand, repeating her earlier question.
“………Yes,” the youth watched the sword tip draw closer and closer to his throat. Whatever Shen Gongye said at this moment, he certainly wouldn’t dare contradict her.
The temperature in the cell warmed up slightly due to the youth’s answer, but then—
“Hee-hee-hee, you need to put a bit of feeling into that! Honestly, I’ve given you so many chances. What a crying shame.”
Before the youth could finish pondering what Shen Gongye’s words meant, a flash of white light appeared before his eyes, followed by a searing pain that pierced him to the bone. The youth couldn’t help but frown slightly.
The culprit gently stroked the light-blue scabbard, the instrument of pain. A sickly, maniacal grin slowly warped Shen Gongye’s beautiful features. In this state, she seemed like a different person from the Imperial Knights’ Commander, who was revered by the entire nation and stood before the knights.
“Hahaha, Blancien~”
Shen Gongye softly called the youth’s name, leaning her delicate body forward, stopping just a centimeter from Blancien, and leaned in close to whisper in his ear.
Blancien first smelled a floral fragrance, and then felt the warmth of her breath against his face.
…So soft.
This was the first thought that flashed through Blancien’s mind. This strange sensation seemed to slightly alleviate the pain in his shoulder.
Shen Gongye watched Blancien’s cheeks slowly flush crimson and gently stroked them with her hand in a gesture of affection.
“Lana, I love you to bits, so… you just have to stay right here, always, always, always, okay?”
“I will.” For some unknown reason, a powerful confidence radiated from the youth as he said this.
He wasn’t going to utter the words. The three-year debt was his to settle.
After all, ……………….. this was the only road to salvation.
“Good morning, everyone!” Shen Gongye walked down the stairs as she did every day, only to find the dining table empty. Where the five Vice-Commanders usually sat, there was only a single note.
It was written in quite a messy hand:
“The Demon Tribe invaded the Imperial territory this morning. We have led the troops to stop them. – Di Xian”
Shen Gongye smiled helplessly, shaking her head. ‘Going on a mission without telling me first? I was just upstairs!’ She picked up the water-blue longsword on the table and headed out.
Fifty Minutes Ago
“Commander, Commander!” The Knights’ Commander’s residence was already in an uproar that morning.
“So noisy. Wu Feng, deal with it.” Larr used his chin to point at the blonde youth across the table who was still sleeping.
The blonde youth looked up when he heard his name, checking to see who was calling.
But upon seeing the super-tramp across from him—who had a mess of dense red hair like weeds, a face full of stubble, his light armor askew, revealing a large part of the leather garment underneath, and vicious eyes—
His eyes lost focus again, and he slumped back onto the table.
“Demon Tribe invasion!” The small messenger knight, who had been calling out anxiously for a long time outside the door, saw that no one inside intended to come out, and roared out the key point.
Demon Tribe invasion?
“The Demons retreated back to the Dark Continent decades ago, why have they surfaced again?” Larr grabbed Wu Feng, who was trying to go back to sleep across from him, and asked urgently.
“How should I know? Let’s go and find out.” Wu Feng reluctantly opened his eyes.
“Di Xian, coming along?” Wu Feng casually asked the quiet chap behind him. Di Xian clearly didn’t expect to be called upon.
The hand that was polishing his longbow paused.
“Me?”
“Mhm~”
“………No.” Di Xian gently shook his head, his shoulder-length white hair swaying at the back of his head.
“I’ll stay behind.”
Since Di Xian directly refused, Wu Feng had no intention of trying to convince him.
“I’ll stay behind, too!”
“Hold on a minute!” Larr, who had been quiet until now, suddenly shouted loudly.
“Why aren’t you coming out to kill Demons with us?”
“Boring.” After giving her brother a dismissive answer, Lani fiddled with her red hair, her eyes occasionally drifting towards Di Xian next to her.
Noticing his sister’s wandering gaze, Larr, the older brother, became annoyed.
“So, you’d rather stay cooped up here with that anti-social chap than come on a mission with your own brother? …Uhh, hmm?” Larr’s hesitation in the middle was due to a simple fact: he noticed the menacing flicker in his sister’s eyes.
“Di Xian isn’t anti-social, Bro~ther~”
Lani’s left hand reached towards the large iron hammer placed beside her seat, just about to teach her dear brother a small lesson, when a silver line of light flashed, missing her left hand by a hair’s breadth.
“Combat using weapons between Vice-Commanders is strictly forbidden,” Di Xian’s faint voice came from the corner.
“I guess I’d better go out with you~ lot then,” Lani muttered grudgingly.
“Right, I’ll go upstairs and find Carter. The Commander… is anyone going to wake the Commander up?”
“Oh…” Their Knights’ Commander had a flaw since childhood. Calling it ‘grumpiness’ wasn’t quite accurate.
It was just that she had an inclination to attack when woken from sleep, and her personal sword was placed right on her bedside table.
“Di Xian, you go. You’re the most likely among us to survive,” Larr didn’t even think, immediately throwing the man nearest his sister to the wolves.
“Right… I think I’ll take a look at the Demon Beasts instead,” Di Xian muttered, rubbing his forehead.
This task of waking the Commander? He couldn’t handle it.